Notes from 56th International STC Conference
Atlanta, Georgia, May 2-5, 2009

Leadership Day

SIG Manager: Administrator or Leader?

Session Description: How to lead and motivate while still keeping the organization afloat by fulfilling all administrative responsibilities..

Jane Smith, Instructional Design SIG manager for several years

• You can’t infuse motivation; it comes from a shared vision
• Pick your leaders very carefully; “stack” your deck
• Maintain the personal touch
• Keep it fun
• Make optimum use of all your leaders’ skills
• Recognize, acknowledge accomplishments; take time to celebrate
• Relationship building, candor, build a solid foundation on trust that can withstand adversity and even internal conflict

Karen Mardahl, AccessAbility SIG manager and SIG advocate

• Underlying it all is your own passion for your cause; know how to use it to motivate but also how to adjust your style to deal with a wide range of personalities in your organization
• Draw in volunteers with short-duration tasks or even a single task
• Don’t hesitate to ask questions
• Communicate regularly, both intra- and inter-SIG ... use the new media.
• In seeking volunteer time, acknowledge that independent contractors’ time is their livelihood
• Marketing is a specific skill set; draw upon expertise in Marcom SIG
• Each SIG should identify a core skill set they bring to the overall organization: both the other SIGs and the Society
• Listen!

Dan Voss, Past Manager of AccessAbility SIG

• Don’t underestimate the administrative part of management. As an example, I had very little SME in accessibility, yet was able to make a substantial contribution to the SIG in its formative years based on organizational and administrative aspects of management.
• Four elements characterize the “ideal” SIG manager:
   
• Administrative and management skill
• Marketing ability
• Interpersonal skills, leadership ability
• Subject matter expertise in the SIG’s specialty
• Problem is, no one person is likely to be strong in all these areas; whence the need to make tap optimum use of the skills of the STC leadership core.
• Tap student power!